Title: More Than Words
Chapter: Three.
Rating: PG-13 for language and violence.
Author's Notes: And I'm back with a new chapter! You have no idea how excited I was to get the reviews I did for the last chapter ... anyone who knows me will tell you that I was to the point of screaming in joy. This is, after all, my first fic ... and wow, it was just awesome. Here's my personalized thanks!
Moments of Insanity: I'm not absolutely certain that I want to divulge where they are quite yet ... though, rest assured, it will be answered in an upcoming chapter. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out, though - they are in a place where both humans and demons can reside ... though keep in mind these are demons that haven't been causing any trouble up until now (or any recent trouble, that is). Their mission was merely to investigate a small town's complaints about demons who were pestering/threatening them - a simple mission, which is what allowed the entire group to go. However, as this chapter and the next will prove, this mission is turning out to be much more complicated than it first appeared. I'd also think about the old woman who first met them and how she acted ... I'm giving hints here.
Bradybunch4529: You are so sweet! Thank you so much ... I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much! You are my prized reviewer, thank you so much!
animegurl23: I got both of your e-mails - did you get mine? And thank you so much - again, I'm so glad people are liking the story! Yes, Keiko doesn't get enough attention in fanfiction, does she? Don't worry - I don't plan on rushing anything in this story. And I will continue to update - you can count on that!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters. Any new characters introduced in this story belong to me, and they will be few and far between.
Not even in her dreams could she have truly understood such a cold.
It was gripping - breathtaking, to be sure. It wrapped around her and burrowed tiny claws of cold into her skin, slicing into every pore and fiber of her body. She could feel it intoxicate her blood as it ripped along the paths of her veins - an immediate hold catching over her breath as she felt such. But there was no pain attached - if anything the feeling provoked was something above pure pain. It was a perplexity of her senses, an error in what she should've felt - for as she ran her fingers down her bare arms she found no signs of cold. It was a befuddling comfort - a cruel warmth that she couldn't begin to decipher.
In the back of her clouded mind, Keiko heard the Botan's faint plea for Keiko to return to the cabin and wait for Shizuru and Yukina to return with the others - and vaguely Keiko could make out the blurry, flitting body of Puu at her shoulders. But the pair's presence was hardly assuaging ... but that was probably because Keiko's focus was, at the moment, unwavering. And so she slowly brought her eyes up in search for the cause of her cold, and with a soft gasp she found her mistaken villain.
He was strikingly handsome with dark hair that swept across his forehead and fell in full to about the back of his neck. Playfully narrowed orbs of a similar hue peered out at her, a colour that was further reflected by his loose jacket and pants. An obvious smirk played across his lips, the expression only doted upon by the cloaked arms that rested gently across his appropriately fit figure. Keiko could see that he was not tall by any means, nor was he particularly short - his face was slightly rounded by a boyish yet matured mischief that seemed to radiate from his entire body.
But such was hardly what stole away Keiko's already trembling breath.
What did, however, was that she had already known before she looked up that it would be him who would stand before her. Something inside her had contorted and warned that the image portrayed would not be the demoness of her nightmares come alive, but another who could fill her with the same odd cold. She was curious as to how she had known, and a little unnerved at her own hidden knowledge. She felt herself drift away from his image, however, when Botan's rough shaking prodded her back to the present.
"Come on, Keiko," Botan was quietly urging her. "Let's just head back and wait for Shizuru and Yukina and everyone else ... alright?"
Keiko blushed at her friend's obvious concern for what must've appeared as a rather frail condition. She offered a smile and put her hand on Botan's, shaking her head gently as her eyes darted back to the figure's form. "Botan," she whispered. "Look over there."
Botan opened her mouth to speak, and Keiko could only assume that Botan questioned her friend's sanity. But nonetheless she turned reluctantly to look (even if only after a rather long sigh) - and when she did, a startled gasp rattled over her throat.
"Oh my god ... a demon!" Botan cried, and Keiko immediately hushed her.
"Yes, a demon!" she hissed, holding her hand over Botan's mouth. "And I have a feeling ... he knows something about this mission ..."
Keiko's eyes once again met up with the demon's, and as if on cue with her accusation a wink spread over his smirking face.
"You mean he's the one terrorizing the town," Botan nodded after Keiko had removed her hand. "Oh, where's Yusuke when you need him!"
"I know him, Botan," Keiko found herself whispering. "And ... I think he knows me."
"What?" Botan choked, her eyes going wide. "Y-You ... you know him? How?"
Keiko shook her head. "I don't know. I've never met him, but somehow ... I know him. And ... I have to talk to him."
She gathered herself and stood, and Botan followed suit - though still with her arm clinging to Keiko's.
"Keiko," she whispered, her own eyes darting suspiciously to the demon. "He's a demon."
Keiko nodded. "I know. But, somehow ... I just have to."
For some time Botan studied Keiko's eyes for a reason, but just as Keiko feared her friend would attempt to drag her back ... she released her arm.
"Well, alright," the ferry girl said reluctantly, shaking her head. "But I'm going to watch you from here in case something happens."
Keiko smiled. "Thanks, Botan."
"What do you mean she was shaking?" Yusuke yelled, his bodytrembling with rage and fear as he sprinted towards the cabin - the cabin that was, he recalled, conveniently placed a good few minutes away. Dammit! "How the hell am I supposed to know what that means?"
"It means," Shizuru panted out, a part of the others who trailed some feet behind Yusuke, "that she was shaking and groaning like she was being murdered. We didn't know what to do!"
"Dammit, Keiko ..." Yusuke groaned, spurring his pace slightly as he rounded a corner.
"We're sorry, Yusuke," he heard Yukina murmur from behind. "We left Botan with her as a precaution ..."
"No, ergh - dammit, it's not your fault I'm just ..."
Worried about her.
But there was no time to be worried. To Yusuke, there wasn't really time for anything just then - for Shizuru and Yukina had left amid Keiko's violent thrashing, and neither could have predicted that such was merely a terribly elongated nightmare that would soon end. From what Yusuke understood, Keiko had been in some sort of unconceivable pain for well over twenty minutes - despite the girls' desperate attempts to awaken her. And so he continued to force himself onward - meanwhile avoiding the guilt of taking out his emotions on the others.
Meanwhile, Puu was busy squirming angrily in the cage that had become Botan's grasp - and none were able to begin to comprehend the door that Keiko had begun to open.
He was more intimidating up close - though, oddly, the cold remained the same ferocity. Keiko stopped some feet before him, leaving relatively little room left between them - though such a distance was still at modesty's minimum. For some time neither of them spoke and resigned to studying one another's eyes - though Keiko thought he seemed to be a good deal better at doing so than she was.
After some moments had past his eyes flickered from her to where Botan stood beyond them, a confirming look swimming about his shielded gaze.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company and the stare of your companion?" he said, his tone low with a mischief all about it.
"Who are you," Keiko demanded in a quiet voice, refusing to allow him to intimidate her - or for time to catch up to her. She had no idea how long ago Botan had sent Shizuru and Yukina away ... and it was a chance she did not want to take.
He seemed to perk slightly at her abrupt question, his eyebrows raising a soft degree as a greater smile infected his lips. "Who am I?" he mused, eyes tracing her. "And who would I be if I answered the questions of a woman I have only just met?"
It was a dare.
"I know what you are ... I'm not a fool," she almost hissed the words, but choked slightly at the foreign tone upon her lips. "But I'd like to know who you are."
He opened his mouth at this to answer quickly with some biting mockery, but then closed it slowly as he gave it a second's thought. His lips pursed slightly as he continued to stare at her, making her feel a good deal uncomfortable as he did. Then a smirk lit up across his face and he grinned - though his eyes remained unwavering as he continued to study her.
"This is not the only thing you'd like to know," he replied, ignoring her former question by presenting his own. "Is it?"
Keiko shook her head, a scowl creeping in her soul but not quite making it to her face. "No. I'd like to know ... I'd like to know about the others in the forest."
He nodded gently, and Keiko could tell by his somewhat bored expression that the question was not new. But, after some time, his eyes filled once more with light - and he took once more to viewing her with an amused curiosity.
"There's not much to know, really," he countered, coating his response with a deliberately false apathy. "We're demons, aren't we? I'm sure you know plenty of stor-"
"I want to know about her," Keiko said, unable to control her annoyance as the question bubbled forth off her lips. A warm apprehension was brewing inside her; it was an anxiety that was ignited whenever she was just close enough to something ... but couldn't quite grasp it.
At this, he stopped. The smirk was wiped from his face, a look of cold shock overtaking his features. After some time his eyes narrowed and his face of mischief returned - though somehow his small smile held an unspoken hint of resentment.
"I'm afraid," he replied, his eyes narrowing slightly as he spoke , "that you'll have to be more specific if you'd like any answers from me ... I'll be the first to prove that bloodthirsty demons are hardly trustworthy ..."
"I don't have times for games," Keiko heard herself whisper undauntedly, though such was merely a mask. In the back of her mind she felt the fear slink across her body as he took another step towards her, and she could see that now his eyes held a depraved glint - and a wealth of shouldered prejudice and hatred tumbled forth from his gaze and into her own.
"No time for games?" he leered, a sort of evil giggle slithering over his lips. "What a dreadful way to live ..."
She was about to speak when a jolt of reality sliced through her body - Yusuke's voice rang out from some distance away. She whirled around, cursing her poor fortune. She could not make him out quite yet - and she could only hope that he had paused at the cabin and would be delayed just a minute longer. Whipping her head around to face the demon she found a look of unceasing amusement painted vividly in his eyes - a sickening gaze that made Keiko's stomach and heart turn.
"Ah, I see now ... friends of yours, I assume?" he simpered, the same mocking chuckle rolling off his cool lips. "Well then ... I suppose it's time we drew this little meeting to a close, don't you?"
"No!" Keiko cried, her hand flying out to grab the sleeve of his coat as he turned. His eyes swiveled to meet her own, widening gently as she flushed and drew back her hand.
"You can't go," she spat with disdain to cover up for her former folly, "because you haven't told me anything yet."
He smiled - if for the first time out of compassion - down at her, slowly digesting the sincerity of her situation.
"Now, then - there's no need to fret. I sincerely doubt this will be our last meeting ... as you'll soon understand that I can make quite a habit of interfering in business that isn't my own ... particularly when such a charming woman is in need of my help ..."
Keiko couldn't stand his useless banter at such a time - for when her head flew back behind her, her eyes could easily make out Yusuke's approaching silhouette.
"Oh, and by the way ..." she heard the demon murmuring, though she didn't bother to turn and meet his gaze as worry overtook her, "be sure to tell Koenma that the demon hybrid Yukio sends his regards." He placed particular strength on the name - which, as he obviously sounded out, belonged to him. But such was not the name that snared Keiko's attention.
Koenma?
Keiko shook with bewilderment and spun to meet him with her questioning gaze ... but all that remained before her was the poisoned memory of a vacated shadow.
Man, am I cruel or am I cruel? Sorry to end it so soon again guys - but don't worry, the fourth chapter is coming soon. But first I'll clear up some things in this chapter for everyone.
Basically, Botan sent Shizuru and Yukina to go fetch Yusuke after they weren't able to wake Keiko up during her obviously violent dream - meaning they didn't know that Keiko had woken up. Keiko spotted Yukio, the demon from the previous chapters who decided to go and find out more about the 'mysterious spirit detective and gang' who had arrived at the village. She proceeded to talk to him - asking for his name and about the demons in the forest ... but their little meeting was split up when Keiko saw Yusuke coming towards them. But before the demon departed he gave Keiko his name ... and the information that he was a demon hybrid.
Now what in the world does that mean? I know ... heheh.
ALSO - I am quite aware that Keiko loves Yusuke, and I have no intent to pair her with anyone else. If you haven't already begun to grasp Yukio's personality and that this is just him ... you will soon. Trust me.
I think I've blabbed enough. Any questions? How about we shoot for ... five reviews to get chapter four up. Just two more than last time, so it shouldn't be so hard. Hope you guys enjoyed this one!